Saturday, 24 June 2017

Praying for Muhammad’s Peace and Security, Part II‎

More
Islamic evidence that Muhammad is not Saved

Follows from Part I

What
this all means for Muhammad and his followers

The
Islamic practice of praying for Muhammad’s peace and safety raises some serious
problems and questions for Muslims. In the first place, there is not a single Biblical verse or Quranic citation which exhorts
believers to pray for the peace and salvation of any of God’s true prophets and
apostles after their respective deaths; Muhammad is utterly unique in this
respect.Interestingly,
according to the late great Christian scholar of Islam, W. St. Clair Tisdall, the command to pray for Muhammad’s
salvation caused one particular Muslim to start doubting and questioning
Muhammad’s prophetic claims and eventually led him to embrace Jesus Christ as
his Lord and Savior:

1A learned Maulavi
from Swat, now a Christian convert, was first brought to doubt Muhammad's
claims by reflecting upon thedurud
(darud) or petition in which, at the close of the fixed prayers (salawat),
a Muslim says, “O Lord, have mercy upon and give peace to Muhammad,” &c.
The thought arose in his mind, “In no other religion is it thought necessary
to pray for God's mercy on its founder.Why then is Muhammad prayed for?”
He next noticed that in thekalimahor Muhammadan creed the title given to Muhammad is merely rasul: he is not
even called anabior “prophet,” whereas far higher titles are
given to Christ in the Qur'an itself (§§ 116-122, 129). In argument it
would be well to put these objections to Muhammad's claims either in the form
of the tale told here, or asquestions,
asking, e.g., “Why is it necessary for Muslims to pray for Muhammad?”
This leads the inquirer to form his own conclusions. (Dr. H. M. Clark.) (W. St.
Clair Tisdall,A Manual of the
Leading Muhammadan Objections to Christianity[Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,
London, 1904] CHAPTER VII. Objections Against Christianity On The Ground of
Muhammad's Divine Mission,p. 217; bold emphasis
ours)

Secondly,
both the Quran and ahadith testify that Muhammad
lived in fear and doubt concerning his salvation since Allah never gave him the
assurance that he would be saved:

Or
say they: “He (Muhammad) has fabricated it.” Say: “If I have fabricated it,
still you have no power to support me against Allah. He knows best of what you
say among yourselves concerning it (i.e. this Qur'an)! Sufficient is He for a
witness between me and you! And He is the Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.”
Say (O Muhammad): “I am not a new thing among the Messengers (of Allah) (i.e. I
am not the first Messenger)nor
do I know what will be done with me or with you. I only follow that
which is revealed to me, and I am but a plain warner.” S. 46:8-9

Say
(unto them, O Muhammad): I pray unto Allah only, and ascribe unto Him no
partner. Say: Lo!I control not
hurt nor benefit for you. Say: Lo! none can protect me from Allah, nor
can I find any refuge beside Him (Mine is) but conveyance (of the Truth) from
Allah, and His messages; and whoso disobeyeth Allah and His messenger, lo! his
is fire of hell, wherein such dwell for ever. Till (the day) when they shall
behold that which they are promised (they may doubt); but then they will know
(for certain) who is weaker in allies and less in multitude. Say (O Muhammad,
unto the disbelievers): I know not whether that which ye are promised is nigh,
or if my Lord hath set a distant term for it. S. 72:20-25 Pickthall

In fact, Allah
repeatedly threatens to kill his prophet if he turns away or decides to change
the message:

And when Our signs
are recited to them, clear signs, those who look not to encounter Us say,
'Bring a Koran other than this, or alter it.' Say: 'It is not for me to alter it
of my own accord. I follow nothing, except what is revealed to me.Truly I fear, if I should rebel
against my Lord, the chastisement of a dreadful day.' S. 10:15 Arberry

This
is (part) of that wisdom wherewith thy Lord hath inspired thee (O Muhammad).And set not up with Allah any other
god, lest thou be cast into hell, reproved, abandoned. S. 17:39
Pickthall

Verily,
they were about to tempt you away from that which We have revealed (the Qur'an)
unto you (O Muhammad), to fabricate something other than it against Us, and
then they would certainly have taken you a friend! And had We not made you stand firm,you would nearly have inclined to
them a little. In that case, We would have made you taste a double
portion (of punishment) in this life and a double portion (of punishment) after
death. And then you would have found none to help you against Us. S. 17:73-75
Hilali-Khan

O
Prophet! be careful of (your duty to) Allahand
do not comply with (the wishes of) the unbelievers and the hypocrites;
surely Allah is Knowing, Wise; S. 33:1

Say
(O Muhammad): "Verily, if I disobey my Lord,I am afraid of the torment of a great
Day." S. 39:13 Hilali-Khan

it is
the speech of a noble Messenger. It is not the speech of a poet (little do you
believe) nor the speech of a soothsayer (little do you remember). A sending
down from the Lord of all Being.Had
he invented against Us any sayings,We would have seized him by the right hand, then We would
surely have cut his life-vein. S. 69:40-46 Arberry

And even though
Allah never promised to save Muhammad he did inform his messenger that he would
definitely die and go to hell!

Verily, you
(O Muhammad) will dieand verily, they (too) will
die. Then, on the Day of Resurrection, you will be disputing before your Lord.
S. 39:30-31

Now, by thy Lord,
We shall surely muster them, and the Satans, then We shall parade them about
Gehenna hobbling on their knees. Then We shall pluck forth from every party
whichever of them was the most hardened in disdain of the All-merciful; then We
shall know very well those most deserving to burn there.Not one of you there is, but he shall
go down to it; that for thy Lord is a thing decreed, determined. Then
We shall deliver those that were godfearing; and the evildoers We shall leave
there, hobbling on their knees. S. 19:68-72 Arberry

Thus, the only guarantee Muhammad had was
that he was going to die and enter into hell itself!This is why
Muhammad could only hope and pray that Allah would perhaps honor and glorify
him:

And in some parts
of the night (also) offer theSalat(prayer) with it (i.e. recite the Qur'an in
the prayer), as an additional prayer (Tahajjudoptional prayerNawafil) for you (O Muhammad). ItMAY BEthat your Lord will raise you toMaqamanMahmuda(a station of praise and glory, i.e. the
highest degree in Paradise!). S. 17:79

Third, if
Muhammad whom Muslims consider to be their example and the greatest man that
ever lived wasn’t certain of his own salvation then what does this say about
the fate of his followers? What hope or assurance do Muslims have of ever
entering paradise when even their own prophet wasn’t guaranteed of being saved?

The doubt which
lingers over every follower of Muhammad can be more clearly seen from the fact
that Muslims are also expected to pray for the companions and wives of Muhammad
whenever they happened to be mentioned by name. For instance, whenever a Muslim speaks
of Umar ibn al-Khattab s/he is expected to pray the following: “may Allah be
pleased with him” (radhi Allah anhu).

Muslims will even
do this when mentioning a renowned Muslim figure or scholar by saying the
words, “may Allah have mercy on him” (rahmatullahi alayh).

In fact, if the
readers scroll back and read some of Ibn Kathir’s quotations they will find Ibn
Kathir actually doing this very thing whenever he mentions Muhammad’s
companions, his wives, and/or some prominent Muslim. I.e.,

“… Ash-Shafi`i,may Allah have mercy on him,
recorded that Abu Umamah bin Sahl bin Hunayf was told by one of the Companions
of the Prophet that the Sunnah in the funeral prayer is for the Imam to
pronounce theTakbir… (Ibid.; bold and italic
emphasis ours)

Now
this makes perfect sense. If Muhammad who is the founder of Islam needed and
continues to need individuals to pray for his salvation then how much more do
his followers and the rest of the Muslim population need such prayers?
Surely, Muhammad’s companions and all who follow his religion cannot be more
savable than their own prophet; nor could/can any of them have greater
assurance that they will be saved than even the founder of their own religion.
In light of this, Muslims actually need a lot more prayers for their salvation
than Muhammad himself does since they can never expect to be on his level, at
least as far as Allah is concerned.

A
Muslim may deny that Muhammad needs the prayers of his people in order to be
saved by arguing that he is already in a state of peace. However, if this were
really the case then why even pray for Muhammad’s peace? Why pray that Allah
grant him mercy if Muhammad has already entered into a state of security and
rest? Does it even make sense to pray for a person’s peace if s/he is in
paradise or in some other state in which s/he is already experiencing joy and
bliss?In other words, if
Muhammad is already in paradise or is experiencing safety and security in the
grave then there is absolutely no need to pray for him at all. There is no need
to constantly beg Allah to send down his mercy upon Muhammad when the latter is
already experiencing the peace and blessings of his god. Such prayers only make
sense if Muhammad isn’t saved and that Allah will actually accept invocations
for the salvation of those who have died.

In fact, the
hadiths themselves record that Muhammad was afraid of the torment which he
believed individuals would have to experience in the grave and used to pray to
Allah to save him from it:Narrated Masruq: ‘Aisha
said that a Jewess came to her and mentioned the punishment in the grave,
saying to her, "May Allah protect you from the punishment of the
grave." ‘Aisha then asked Allah’s Apostle about the punishment of the
grave.He said, "Yes,
(there is) punishment in the grave." ‘Aisha added, "After
that I never saw Allah’s Apostle but seeking refuge with Allah from the
punishment in the grave in every prayer he prayed." (Sahih
al-Bukhari, Volume 2, Book 23,Number 454)

And: Narrated
'Amra bint 'AbdurRahman:A Jewess came to 'Aisha to ask her about something and
then she said, "May Allah give you refuge from the punishment of the
grave." So 'Aisha asked Allah's Apostle, "Would the people be
punished in their graves?"Allah's
Apostle asked Allah's refuge from the punishment of the grave (indicating an
affirmative reply). Then one day Allah's Apostle rode (to leave for
some place)but the sun eclipsed.
He returned on the forenoon and passed through the rear of the dwellings (of
his wives) and stood up and started offering the (eclipse) prayer and the people
stood behind him. He stood for a long period and then performed a long bowing
and then stood straight for a long period which was shorter than that of the
first standing, then he performed a prolonged bowing which was shorter than the
first bowing, then he raised his head and prostrated for a long time and then
stood up (for the second Raka) for a long while, but the standing was shorter
than the standing of the first Raka. Then he performed a prolonged bowing which
was shorter than that of the first one. He then stood up for a long time but
shorter than the first, then again performed a long bowing which was shorter
than the first and then prostrated for a shorter while than that of the first
prostration. Then he finished the prayer and delivered the sermon and said what
Allah wished;and ordered the
people to seek refuge with Allah from the punishment of the grave. (Sahih
al-Bukhari, Volume 2, Book 18,Number 164)

Hence, it only
makes perfect sense that Muhammad would command his followers to constantly
pray for his peace and security seeing how deathly afraid he was of the torment
and punishment of the grave.

Still, other
Muslims see such prayers as Allah’s way of honoring Muhammad more than any
other prophet!(Lo! Allah and His angels shower blessings on the Prophet…)
[33:56]. Abu Sa'id informed us> Ibn Abi 'Amr al-Naysaburi> al-Hasan ibn
Ahmad al-Makhladi> al-Mu'ammil ibn al-Hasan ibn 'Isa> Muhammad ibn
Yahya> Abu Hudhayfah> Sufyan> al-Zubayr ibn 'Adiyy> 'Abd al-Rahman
ibn Abi Layla> Ka'b ibn 'Ujrah who said: “It was said to the Prophet: 'We
know how to salute you, but how do we invoke blessings on you?' And so this
verse was revealed (Lo! Allah and His angels shower blessings on the Prophet. O
ye who believe! Ask blessings on him and salute him with a worthy salutation)”.
'Abd al-Rahman ibn Hamdan al-'Adl informed us> Abu'l-'Abbas Ahmad ibn 'Isa
al-Washsha'> Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Suli> al-Riyashi> al-Asma'i who
said: “I heard al-Mahdi say from the pulpit of [the grand mosque of] al-Basrah:
'Allah has commanded you with something that He Himself has started first when
He said (Lo! Allah and His angels shower blessings on the Prophet. O ye who
believe! Ask blessings on him and salute him with a worthy salutation).Through this, Allah has preferred the
Prophet over all other messengers and singled you out from all other
communities. Do, therefore, meet Allah's bounty with gratitude' ”. I heard
master Abu 'Uthman al-Hafiz say that he heard Imam Sahl ibn Muhammad ibn
Sulayman say: “The honour that Allah, exalted is He, bestowed upon our Prophet
by His saying (Lo! Allah and His angels shower blessings on the Prophet) is
more far-reaching and more completethan
the honour bestowed upon Adam when the angels were ordered to prostrate to him.
This is because it is not conceivable that Allah be with the angels upon the
bestowal of that honour. However, Allah, exalted is He, has informed that He
Himself showers blessings on the Prophet, and then He informed that the angels
do shower blessings upon him. Therefore, an honour which ensues from Him is
much far-reaching than an honour which ensues from the angels only and which is
inconceivable that Allah be with them upon its bestowal”. What Sahl has said is
taken from the saying of al-Mahdi. He might have come across it, adopted some
of it and explained it further. He also compared it with the honour bestowed
upon Adam and showed that it is more far-reaching and complete than it. It is
also mentioned in the rigorously authenticated collections of prophetic sayings
the following: Abu Bakr ibn Ibrahim al-Farisi informed us> Muhammad ibn 'Isa
ibn 'Amrawayh> Ibrahim ibn Sufyan> Muslim> Qutaybah and 'Ali ibn
Hajar> Isma'il ibn Ja'far> al-'Ala'> his father> Abu Hurayrah who
reported that the Messenger of Allah said: “Whoever invokes blessings on me
once, Allah will invoke blessings upon him ten times”. ('Alī ibn Ahmad
al-Wahidi,Asbab al-Nuzul; bold emphasis ours)

On
the contrary, such prayers actually dishonor Muhammad and are a source of major
embarrassment for Muslims. As we had noted, no where will one find in either
the Holy Bible or the Quran a command to pray for the peace and salvation of
any of the true prophets and messengers of God especially after their deaths.
The inspired Scriptures are clear that all true believers, which would include
God’s prophets and apostles, enter into the heavenly presence of God the moment
after they die (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:1-10; Philippians 1:21, 23; 2 Timothy
4:6-8; Hebrews 12:22-24; Revelation 6:9-11; 7:9-17).

As
we stated, Muhammad is the only person who requires that his followers actually
pray for his salvation and security, and not only during his life time. Today
there are over one billion followers of Muhammad who are still obligated to pray
for him as long as they live, many times in the course of every single day. How
many billions of such prayers will ever be sufficient to grant Muhammad’s
salvation?

Thus, by requiring Muslims to pray for the peace of Muhammad Allah has
actually dishonored his prophet since this calls into question the very
salvation of the one whom Muslims claim is the perfect man. This also
casts great fear and doubt into the hearts of Muslims since they can never know
whether Allah is truly pleased with them enough to give them salvation.
After all, if even Muhammad wasn’t certain that he was saved then how can any
Muslim know for sure or have the peace of mind that when s/he dies Allah will
grant him/her eternal bliss? The answer is that no Muslim can ever know and must therefore
die in fear and despair.

However, there is
hope for Muslims if they will only turn away from the Islamic god and abandon
the false prophet Muhammad. Muslims can have the assurance that God loves them
so much that he has promised to give every one of them eternal life if only
they turn to his beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and accept him as their sovereign
Lord and risen Savior.

With that said we
would like to conclude our discussion by quoting various passages from the Holy
Bible, God’s truly inspired Word, which emphatically highlight and proclaim the
willingness and desire of the only true and living God to perfectly save every
single individual who, by his grace and mercy, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ,
his glorious and majestic Son, for salvation:

“She will give
birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,because he will save his people from
their sins.” Matthew 1:21

“This is my blood
of the covenant,which is poured
out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Matthew 26:28

“For even the Son
of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,and to give his life as a ransom for
many.’” Mark 10:45

“For the Son of
Man cameto seek and to save
what was lost.” Luke 19:10

“Just as Moses
lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,that everyone who believes in him may
have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and
only Son,that whoever believes
in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his
Son into the world to condemn the world,but
to save the world through him.” John 3:14-17

“Many
of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's
testimony, ‘He told me everything I ever did.’ So when the Samaritans came to
him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of
his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, ‘We no longer
believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves,and we know that this man really is
the Savior of the world.’” John 4:39-42

“Then Jesus
declared, ‘I am the bread of life.He
who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be
thirsty… All that the Father gives me will come to me,and whoever comes to me I will never
drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to
do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me,that I shall lose none of all that he
has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will
is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in himshall have eternal life, and I will
raise him up at the last day… I tell you the truth,he who believes has everlasting life.’”
John 6:35, 38-40

“But here is the
bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the
living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread,he will live forever. This
bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world… Just as the living
Father sent me and I live because of the Father,so the one who feeds on me will live
because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your
forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this breadwill live forever.” John
6:50-51, 57-58

“My
sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.I give them eternal life, and they shall
never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them
to me, is greater than all;no
one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one.”
John 10:27-30

"Jesus said
to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha answered, ‘I know he will rise
again in the resurrection at the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the
Resurrection and the Life.He
who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and
believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ she
told him, ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come
into the world.’” John 11:23-27

“‘Do not let
your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's
house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.I am going there to prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to
be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place
where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don't know where you are
going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus answered, ‘I am the Way and the Truth
and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me… I will not leave you as orphans;
I will come to you. Before
long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me.Because I live, you also will live…Peace I leave with you; my peace I
give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.Do not let your
hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.’” John 14:1-6, 18-19, 27

“I have told you
these things,so that in me you
may have peace. In this world you will have trouble.But take heart! I have overcome the
world.” John 16:33

“After Jesus said
this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: ‘Father, the time has come. Glorify
your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all
peoplethat he might give
eternal life to all those you have given him… I in them and you in me.
May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent meand have loved them even as you
have loved me.Father, I want those you have given me to be with
me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because
you loved me before the creation of the world.” John 17:1-2, 23-24

“He was in the
world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize
him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to
all who received him, to those who believed in his name,he gave the right to become children
of Godchildren born not of
natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.”
John 1:10-13

“Jesus did many
other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded
in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God,and that
by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:30-31

“Therefore, since
we have been justified through faith,we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have
gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand…But God
demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ
died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood,how much more shall we be saved from
God's wrath through him!For
if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of
his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his
life!Not only is this so, but
we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now
received reconciliation.” Romans 5:1, 8-11

“Therefore,
there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus… For
those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he
predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified;those he justified, he
also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is
for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him
up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us
all things?Who will bring any
charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he
that condemns?Christ Jesus, who
died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is
also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ?Shall trouble or
hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is
written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep
to be slaughtered.’ No,
in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I
am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither
the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor
anything else in all creation,will
be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:1, 28-39

“For they
themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how
you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for
his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead,Jesus who delivers us from the wrath
to come.” 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10

“For God has
not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus
Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might
live with him.” 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10

“For we do not
have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have
one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.Let us then approach the throne of
grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to
help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:15-16

“We have
this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the
inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has
entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of
Melchizedek.” Hebrews 6:19-20

“Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them
from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent
priesthood.Therefore he is able
to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives
to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need—one who is
holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.
Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after
day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins
once for all when he offered himself.” Hebrews 7:23-27

“It was necessary,
then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these
sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than
these. For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of
the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence.
Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high
priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.
Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the
world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the agesto do away with sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face
judgment,so Christ was
sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will
appear a second time, not to bear sin,but
to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” Hebrews 9:26-28

“And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the
body of Jesus Christ once for all… by one sacrificehe has made perfect foreverthose who are being made holy.” Hebrews
10:10, 14

“We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of
his Spirit.And we have seen and
testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in
God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever
lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete
among usso that we will have
confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like
him. There is no fear in love.But
perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.
The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:13-18

“for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that
has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world?Only he who believes that Jesus is
the Son of God… And this is the testimony:God has given us eternal life, and
this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the
Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe
in the name of the Son of Godso
that you may know that you have eternal life… We know that anyone born
of God does not continue to sin;the
one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. We
know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the
control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has
given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him
who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”
1 John 5:4-5, 11-13, 18-20

“Then I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Write:Blessed are the dead who die in the
Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from
their labor, for their deeds will follow them.’” Revelation 14:13